Sweep apparatus for an automatic bowling pinsetting machine

ABSTRACT

A sweep apparatus for an automatic bowling pinsetting machine has a sweep mounted on a guide for guiding the movement of the sweep in a generally pivoting movement in which the sweep is positioned across the alley, and then in a rectilinear motion along the alley. A sweep drive arm is mounted on a vertical sweep drive shaft which is rotatable back and forth, and the free end of the sweep drive arm is articulated to the sweep for driving it in said pivoting movement and rectilinearly along the guide.

United States Patent [72] Inventor Kenneth Clark Sherman P. 0. Box 6,Gambrills, Md. 21054 [21] Appl. No. 55,684 [22] Filed July 17, 1970 [45]Patented Oct. 12, 1971 [54] SWEEP APPARATUS FOR AN AUTOMATIC BOWLINGPINSETTING MACHINE 7 Claims, 5 Drawing Figs.

[52] US. Cl .1 273/54 A [51] Int. Cl A63d 5/08 [50] Field of Search273/43 R, 43 A, 54 A, 54 E [5 6] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS2,498,587 2/1950 Snyder 273/54 A 2,735,681 2/1956 Sherman 273/54 A3/1959 Zuercher 273/54 A 2,920,891 1/1960 Sherman 273/54 A X 3,158,37111/1964 Kemp... 273/5415 3,224,768 12/1965 Webb 273/54 E 3,380,7394/1968 Linnemann 273/43 R Primary Examiner-Anton O. OechsleAttorney-Wenderoth, Lind and Ponack PATENTEBom 12 I9" 3, 5 1 2 524 sum 1UF 3 6 lfi 5% INVENTOR KENNETH C. Sl-IERMAN ATTORNEYS PAIENTEnnm 12 IanSHEET 20F 3 3,612,524

INVENTOR KENNETH, 5. SHERMAN f ATTORNEYS PATENTEDDBT 12 197i SHEET 3 0F3 INVENTOR KENNETH C. SHERMAN BY fii ATTORNEYS SWEEP APPARATUS FOR ANAUTOMATIC BOWLING PINSE'ITING MACHINE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1.Field of the Invention i This invention relates to an automatic bowlingpinsetting machine for automatically setting bowling pins. Moreparticularly, it relates to a sweep for a pinsetting machine of the typewhich is mounted on a vertical rotatable shaft from which it is drivenin its sweeping motion, the sweep being driven according to theinvention first in a pivoting movement, and then in a rectilinearmovement along the end of the bowling alley on which the pins are set.

2. Description of the Prior Art In my US. Pat. No. 2,920,891, there isdescribed a complete pinsetting machine which has a sweep which ismounted on a vertical shaft for pivotal movement from a position to theside of the alley to a position across the alley, during the course ofwhich pivotal movement the pins which have been knocked down by abowling ball are swept to the pit at the rear end of the alley fromwhere they are picked up by another part of the machine. The movement ofthe sweep is only a pivotal movement, the sweep at all times movingalong the arc of a circle.

While this type of sweep has many advantages over the type of sweepwhich is driven from a horizontal overhead shaft, such as requiring onlya single drive connection of the vertical shaft, and requiring only asingle mounting of the sweep carrying arm on the shaft, there is adisadvantage that with the circular arc movement of the sweep, the pinsbeing swept tend to be swept into the gutter nearest the sweep driveshaft, rather than to be swept back into the end of the alley alongpaths along the alley. This results in a large number of pins beingsweptinto the pit on the near side of the alley from the drive shaft forthe sweep, while a relatively few number of pins are swept into thecenter and far side of the pit. This results in overloading of the pinpickup means on one side of the pit and relatively little use of the pinpickup means on the other side of the pit and also can result in pinsbridging the gutter on the rear side of the alley. These conditions slowthe orderly movement of pins from the pit to the pinsetting portion ofthe machine.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of this invention to provide animproved pivoted sweep apparatus for a pinsetting machine which firstsweeps in a pivoting movement and then sweeps rectilinearly along thealley.

It is a further object of this invention to provide such a sweepmechanism which can be made a part of existing pinsetting machines andwhich is simple and rugged in construction and reliable in operation.

These objects are achieved by providing a sweep mechanism which has asweep mounted on a guide means for movement in a generally pivotingsweeping movement in order to reach a position in which it extendsacross the alley substantially perpendicular to the length of the alleyand then in a rectilinear movement along the alley, and which has asweep drive arm mounted on a vertical drive shaft and articulated to thesweep for driving it along the guide means in said movement. All that isnecessary to incorporate the new sweep mechanism in existing pinsettingmachines having a vertical drive shaft for the sweep is to add the guidemeans and appropriately mount the sweep, and then provide thearticulated connection between the sweep and the drive shaft.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES The invention will now be described ingreater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the end of a bowling alley with the sweepmechanism according to the invention in position thereover;

FIG. 2 is a front elevation view, on a somewhat enlarged scale, of thesweep and the articulated connection to the drive Shaft;

FIG. 3 is a side elevation view taken from the left side of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a detail of the connection between the sweep drive arm and thesweep; and

FIG. 5 is a detail, in perspective, of an alternative structure formounting the sweep on the guide means.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES Referring first to FIGS. 1 and 2,there is shown the end of a bowling alley 10 having gutters 11 along thesides thereof and a pit 12 at the end thereof into which pins P areswept. Reference is made to US. Pat. No. 2,920,891 for details of theportions of the pinsetting machine other than the sweep, such as belts16 in the gutters 11, these portions forming no part of the presentinvention. In FIGS. 1, 4 and 8 of the patent is shown a drive shaft 364which corresponds to drive shaft 364 of FIG. 1 of the presentapplication. In the patented apparatus and in the apparatus of thepresent invention, a drive arm 380 is attached to the drive shah, andpivoted to the end of ann 380 is rod 406 having a rack 408 on the freeend thereof. Rack 408 meshes with pinion 410 on the upper end of a sweepdrive shaft 412 which is mounted in bearings, not shown, on the frame ofthe apparatus. These parts and their arrangement are the same in bothcases.

In one embodiment of the apparatus of the present invention there isprovided guide means for guiding a sweep first in a generally pivotingsweeping movement from a position along side the alley to a positiontransversely across the alley, and then in a rectilinear movement alongthe alley. In the preferred embodiment, this guide means is in the formof a bent guide rod 505 which has a circular cross section, and whichhas a short transversely extending portion 505a toward the front of thealley remote from the pit 12, a circular arc portion 505b, and arectilinear portion 505c extending along the side of the alley parallelto its length. The guide rod 505 is mounted on the pinsetting machine bymeans of hangers 505d, or the like.

The sweep of the present invention has a sweep member 520, shown clearlyin FIGS. 2 and 3, which has the bottom end curved in the direction inwhich the sweep is moving from the start to the finish of the sweepingmovement. The sweep member is mounted on a sweep frame 502 which hasvertical members 517 welded to the bottom thereof with a horizontalshaft 518 extending between the vertical members. Pivoted on the shaft518 are two channel-shaped hinge members 519 which extend upwardly alongthe front or forwardly facing sides of the vertical members anddownwardly below the ends of the vertical members. The sweep member 520is secured to the lower ends of the hinge members by rivets, bolts, orthe like. With this arrangement the hinge members 519 can pivot only inone direction on the shaft 518, Le. in the direction in which the sweepis hinged toward the pit and up away from the alley. This permits thesweep to be swung up out of the path of a bowling ball accidentallythrown while the sweep is in position across the alley.

Attached to one end of the sweep frame 502 by welding, riveting, or thelike, is a frame plate 503 having a plurality of grooved rollers 504having a contour such that they will closely embrace the guide rod 505.The rollers are arranged in a pattern on the guide plate such that theywill engage the guide rod at all times, even when the plate is movingaround the circular arc portion 505b of the guide rod. In thisembodiment the rollers are arranged in a row of four with a fifth rollerspaced from the row by a distance only slightly less than the diameterof the guide rod 505. Thus, the rod 505 is embraced snugly between therow of four rollers and the single fifth roller so that the plate 503 isguided smoothly around the circular are portion 50%. Other arrangementsof rollers are, 0 course, possible.

Mounted on the sweep drive shaft 412 is a sweep drive arm 500 which isshown as being a T-shaped rod with a slightly bent portion 500a at theend toward the drive shaft 412. This sweep drive arm 500 is articulatedto the sweep by articulation means which in the present embodiment is aslidable and rotatable coupling shown in detail in FIG. 4. At the freeend of the sweep drive arm 500 is a bearing 501 in which is rotatablyheld a stud 507 with a nut 508 on the upper end thereof and which has acylindrical portion within the bearing 501 and a generally cubic portionwith a bore therethrough below the bearing 501. Attached to the lowerend of the cubic portion is a transverse plate 512 having two shaftsdepending from the ends thereof with rollers 516 mounted thereon. On thetop edge of the sweep frame 502 is mounted a slide rod 513 which extendsthrough the bore in the cubic portion of the stud 507. A carriage 509 isattached to the upper part of the stud 507 and has a plate 509aextending in a direction along the slide rod 513. The plate 5090 has twocircular guides 50912 depending therefrom through which the slide rod513 extends. The assembly of the stud 507 and the carriage 509 are thusheld in alignment with the slide rod 513 for sliding movementtherealong, and the assembly is also rotatable in the bearing 501 withrespect to the end of the sweep drive arm 500.

The slide rod 513 is mounted in two blocks 512 and 514 on the top of thesweep frame 502 at a distance above the top of the sweep frame such thatthe rollers 516 bear against the side surfaces of the sweep frame. Thesweep frame and the sweep are thus kept from rocking with respect to thecarriage 509 and the stud 507 so that the sweep is held upright withrespect to the alley 10.

In the operation of the apparatus, the drive shaft 364 is driven throughone complete revolution for each actuation of the sweep in coordinationwith the operation of the rest of the pinsetting machine. A completeexplanation of this operation will be found in the patent referred tohereinbefore, and will therefore not be repeated here. During suchrotation, the drive am 380 makes one complete revolution, and the rod406 and the rack 408 are reciprocated. This movement is sufficient torotate the pinion 410 and sweep drive shaft 412 through an angle ofabout 180 from the position shown in dotted lines to the left in FIG. 1to a position just past the solid line position in FIG. 1. At the startof this rotation, the sweep drive arm 500 starts to swing clockwise inFIG. 1 and first moves the sweep frame 501 and the plate 503 along theshort transversely extending portion 5050. This moves the sweep awayfrom its position along side the alley 10, but it remains generallyparallel with the length of the alley. As the rotation of the sweepdrive shaft 412 continues, the sweep frame 502 and the plate 503 aremoved around the circular arc portion 505b of the guide rod 505, beingguided by the rollers 504. During this portion of the movement, thesweep is moved in a generally pivotal movement to a position in which itis transverse of the alley 10, the carriage 509 pivoting relative to theend of the sweep drive arm 500 and sliding slightly on the slide rod513. Continued movement moves the sweep frame to the dotted lineposition shown in the middle of FIG. 1, at which time the carriage 509has pivoted further relative to the sweep drive arm 500. Furtherrotation of the sweep drive shaft 412 drives the sweep frame 502rectilinearly along the alley, the one end being guided along guide rod505, and the middle portion being driven by the sweep drive arm 500. Thecarriage and stud assembly permit the proper relative rotation and sliding of the end of the sweep drive arm 500 so that the sweep frame 502 ismoved properly along the alley.

Near the end of the rotation of the sweep drive shaft 412 in onedirection the sweep frame 502 and the sweep drive arm 500 are in thesolid line position shown in FIG. 1. Continued rotation moves the sweepto the end of the alley sweeping all of the pins into the pit 12. Atthis point, the rod 406 and rack 408 start their reverse movement,driving the sweep drive shaft 412 in the opposite direction, and thesweep is driven back in the opposite direction to its original position.

An alternative means for mounting the sweep on the guide means is shownin FIG. 5. In this embodiment, the guide means is a generally T-shapedguide track 605 which is mounted on the machine in the same position andin the same manner as the guide rod 505, except that the guide track isa simple straight track. A frame plate 603 is provided which has aplurality of rollers 604 mounted thereon which engage over the flange605a of the track 605 and run on the main part 605b of the track. Theflange 605a thus prevents the plate 603 from falling off the track.Pivotally mounted in a bearing 606 on the frame plate 603 is a pivotplate 607 on which the end of the sweep drive arm 500 is fixed. Thepivot plate has a projection 608 projecting perpendicularly therefromthrough which a bolt 609 or the like extends into the bearing 606 andthe sweep drive arm 500 is secured to the end of the plate 607 and tothe surface of the projection 608, thus firmly securing in to the pivotplate. A stop 610 is mounted on the free end of the plate 607 whichabuts against the frame plate 603 when the sweep drive arm 500 isperpendicular to the guide track 605.

The remainder of the apparatus, the vertical drive shaft and thearticulation of the drive shaft to the sweep drive arm, and thestructure of the sweep, is identical with the embodiment described inconnection with FIGS. 1-4.

In operation, the parts shown in FIG. 5 will normally rest in a positionrotated counterclockwise from the position shown in FIG. 5, with thesweep drive arm 500 parallel to the guide track 605 and nearly alignedwith it, so that the sweep rests near the sidewall of the alley. Uponthe start of the operation of the drive shaft, the sweep drive arm 500,carrying the sweep along with it, is pivoted in the bearing 606 untilthe stop 610 comes to rest against the frame plate 603. At this point,the sweep has completed a generally pivoting motion and is extendingacross the alley. Further movement of the drive shaft drives the frameplate 603 along the guide track 605, the rollers 604 rolling along theguide track 605 in the same way the rollers 504 roll along the guide rod505. During the reverse drive of the drive shaft, the reverse sequenceof operations takes place to return the sweep to its rest position alongside the alley.

It will be seen that the initial pivoting movement of the sweep takesplace well up the alley from where pins which have been knocked overwill normally be lying. Thus the rectilinear sweep motion of the sweepoccurs along the area of the alley where the pins will normally belying, and the sweep will sweep the pins in a rectilinear movementstraight back into the pit. This produces a better distribution of thepins in the pit, thereby speeding up the operation of the machine.

Moreover, as compared to the type of sweep which descends from overheadand moves along the alley rectilinearly, the present sweep reaches muchfarther up the alley toward the bowler and will gather deadwood whichwill not be reached by the conventional rectilinear sweep.

Further, as compared to prior horizontally pivotal sweeps, the sweep ofthe present invention does not rely on the belts in the gutter to removethe pins from the alley. The sweep moves along the gutters from thepoint at which it first is positioned transverse of the alley, sweepingthe pins in the gutter and which may be lodged across the gutter aheadof it into the pit. With the presently existing pivotal sweeps, pinslodged in or across the gutters must be removed by hand or by a bowlerthrowing a ball. This not only delays the game, but sometimes results indamage to the pinsetting machine.

In one presently existing form of a horizontally pivotal sweep, there isan extensible portion on the free end of the sweep which extends as thesweep pivots in order to reach farther up the alley. The extensibleportion is retracted when the sweep reaches the position across thealley. This movement is distracting, especially to bowlers in adjacentlanes. There is no such movement of the present apparatus, and suchdistractions are not present with this machine.

Since all of the deadwood is cleared by the sweep according to thepresent invention, there is no need to repeat machine operations, andthe game is thus speeded. Likewise, it is not necessary for the bowlersto throw additional balls to move or dislodge pins which are notproperly swept, thus further speeding the game and allowing the bowlersto concentrate on the game.

It will, of course, be understood that other structural arrangements canbe devised which will accomplish the same type of movement of the sweep,and the invention is not limited to the specific structure described andshown.

What is claimed is:

l. A sweep apparatus for an automatic bowling pinsetting machinecomprising a vertical sweep drive shaft adapted to be driven from thepinsetting machine in a reciprocal rotation motion, a sweep guide meansadapted to be positioned along one side of a bowling alley on which oneend of said sweep is movably mounted for a generally pivoting motion anda rectilinear motion along the alley, a sweep drive arm mounted on saidsweep drive shaft and having a free end articulated to said sweep fordriving said sweep in said generally pivoting motion and thenrectilinearly along said guide means.

2. 'A sweep apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which said guide means isa guide rod having a short portion extending in a direction transverselyof the alley, a curved portion, and a portion extending in a directionalong the alley, and said sweep has a plurality of rollers thereonembracing said guide rod for guiding the sweep along the guide rod.

3. A sweep apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which said sweep drive armand said sweep are articulated to each other by a pivoting and slidingcoupling.

4. A sweep apparatus as claimed in claim 3 in which said couplingcomprises a bearing on the free end of said sweep drive arm, a studrotatably mounted in said bearing, a carriage on said stud having meansfor slidably engaging a slide rod, and a slide rod on said sweep withwhich said means of said carriage is slidably engaged.

5. A sweep apparatus as claimed in claim 4 in which said couplingfurther comprises means on said carriage movably engaging said sweep andholding the sweep in a fixed upright orientation to the surface of thealley.

6. A sweep apparatus as claimed in claim 5 in which said means on saidcarriage comprises a plate member extending on either side of saidcarriage transversely to said slide rod, and rollers rotatably mountedon said plate and engaging the opposite sides of said sweep below saidslide rod and holding said sweep in position relative to said carriage.

7. A sweep apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which said guide means isa guide track extending in a direction along the alley, and said sweephas a frame plate pivoted thereto having a plurality of rollers thereonengaged with said guide track for rolling along said track and holdingthe end of the sweep in engagement with said track, said frame plate andsweep including means for blocking pivotal movement of said sweep in onedirection with the sweep extending perpendicularly to the guide track,and allowing pivoting movement in the other direction.

1. A sweep apparatus for an automatic bowling pinsetting machinecomprising a vertical sweep drive shaft adapted to be driven from thepinsetting machine in a reciprocal rotation motion, a sweep guide meansadapted to be positioned along one side of a bowling alley on which oneend of said sweep is movably mounted for a generally pivoting motion anda rectilinear motion along the alley, a sweep drive arm mounted on saidsweep drive shaft and having a free end articulated to said sweep fordriving said sweep in said generally pivoting motion and thenrectilinearly along said guide means.
 2. A sweep apparatus as claimed inclaim 1 in which said guide means is a guide rod having a short portionextending in a direction transversely of the alley, a curved portion,and a portion extending in a direction along the alley, and said sweephas a plurality of rollers thereon embracing said guide rod for guidingthe sweep along the guide rod.
 3. A sweep apparatus as claimed in claim1 in which said sweep drive arm and said sweep are articulated to eachother by a pivoting and sliding coupling.
 4. A sweep apparatus asclaimed in claim 3 in which said coupling comprises a bearing on thefree end of said sweep drive arm, a stud rotatably mounted in saidbearing, a carriage on said stud having means for slidably engaging aslide rod, and a slide rod on said sweep with which said means of saidcarriage is slidably engaged.
 5. A sweep apparatus as claimed in claim 4in which said coupling further comprises means on said carriage movablyengaging said sweep and holding the sweep in a fixed upright orientationto the surface of the alley.
 6. A sweep apparatus as claimed in claim 5in which said means on said carriage comprises a plate member extendingon either side of said carriage transversely to said slide rod, androllers rotatably mounted on said plate and engaging thE opposite sidesof said sweep below said slide rod and holding said sweep in positionrelative to said carriage.
 7. A sweep apparatus as claimed in claim 1 inwhich said guide means is a guide track extending in a direction alongthe alley, and said sweep has a frame plate pivoted thereto having aplurality of rollers thereon engaged with said guide track for rollingalong said track and holding the end of the sweep in engagement withsaid track, said frame plate and sweep including means for blockingpivotal movement of said sweep in one direction with the sweep extendingperpendicularly to the guide track, and allowing pivoting movement inthe other direction.